Labour scoring 'tax own goal' as missing levy could pay salary of ENTIRE British Army

Labour scoring 'tax own goal' as missing levy could pay salary of ENTIRE British Army

A tax which is currently being dodged by thousands of Britons could raise enough money for the Treasury to pay the salaries of every member in the British Army, a new analysis has revealed. Missing tobacco taxes could generate £4.3billion - enough to pay all 74,000 soldiers in the British Army - with nearly £1billion to spare, but the UK’s soaring black market deprives the Treasury of these billions, the data suggests. It comes as the British Army has been ordered to suspend large-scale training exercises to save just £30million. The Kremlin has also warned it may attack British military targets because of UK support for Ukraine. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say Former British Army Captain and bioweapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon OBE slammed the Prime Minister for refusing to commit to funding Britain’s defences and called for a crackdown on black markets costing the Treasury billions, in order to increase defence spending. He said: "Andy Burnham's refusal to commit to increasing defence spending to at least 3 per cent by 2030 means he's rolling the dice on Britain's security. We risk being seen as a soft target by Putin. "The Swedes, the Norwegians, the Poles - even the Greeks - are already at 3 per cent, today. Failing to bring Britain up to that level is a gift to the Kremlin. "What makes matters worse is the Government is leaving tax revenue - that could be spent on vital hardware and troops - uncollected. Illegal tobacco alone is costing the Treasury billions of pounds a year. The expert added: "For the sake of our national security, we cannot afford to allow black markets across our economy to rob the Treasury's coffers and prevent us from investing in our defence." Mike Neville, who served in the Royal Military Police in Northern Ireland before becoming a Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector, said: "Andy Burnham won't stump up the money to defend Britain from Putin, because he says social security can't come at the expense of nat